A fourth rise in hospital deaths has been recorded in Cornwall involving patients testing positive for coronavirus.

Two further deaths have now been recorded at the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, on Wednesday and Thursday this week (January 6 and 7), and reported in today's figures by NHS England.

It followed a death reported in yesterday's figures taking place at the Cornwall Partnerships NHS Trust, also on Wednesday (January 6), and three deaths on Monday (January 4), which were reported on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.

There have now been 87 deaths registered to the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and 29 to the Cornwall Partnerships NHS Trust, bringing the overall total number of hospital deaths in Cornwall to 116.

However, the overall total number of deaths in Cornwall – including deaths in care homes and other settings – has only gone up by one, due to a difference in reporting times between NHS England and the Government dashboard. The figure now sits at 199. 

Nationally a further 625 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died in hospitals in England, bringing the total number to 55,072.

Patients were aged between 24 and 101 years old. All except 26 – aged 30 to 96 years old – had known underlying health conditions and their families have been informed.

The dates of their deaths ranged from November 15, 2020 to January 8, 2021.

Of these, 23 deaths were in the south west.

The overall number of deaths in the UK has risen by another 1,035 people reported to have died within 28 days of their first positive test result, bringing the total number of UK deaths to 80,868. This figure includes people in care home and other settings.

The latest Covid-19 case information for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has now also been published.

As of 4pm today (Saturday, January 9) there have been 169 new cases recorded in the previous 24 hours - a significant drop on the new record high of 412 recorded in Cornwall yesterday (Friday, January 8). 

The total number of cases in the local authority area since the start of the pandemic now sits at 8,479.

There were 2,110 cases recorded in the seven days leading up to January 4. Data from the most recent five days was not shown due to being incomplete.

This represents a weekly rate of 369.0 cases per 100,000 people.

On Thursday the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust revealed that the number of patients admitted with Covid-19 symptoms was 14 times higher than a month ago.

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The number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the UK has increased by 59,937, taking the total number over the three million mark.

The total number of cases nationally since the start of the pandemic is now 3,017,409.

In today's other related news:

New cases of coronavirus are expected to rise faster in the south west that anywhere in the UK.

This is the latest estimate from the Government and SAGE in the most recent update on the R number and growth rate.

Read the full story here.

People in Falmouth and the surrounding area have been urged to take extra care and "follow the rules" by Cornwall's health chiefs to prevent further spread of coronavirus after a sharp rise in cases in recent days.

There have been 97 new positive test results recorded in the town in the seven days leading up to January 3, which represents the most recent figures. Data from the last five days is not shown due to being incomplete.

Read the full story here.

Free home exercise classes are being offered by the company that runs the majority of Cornwall's sports centres.

GLL, which operates under the Better brand and runs Cornwall’s leisure centres on behalf of the council, has had to close its leisure centres during the third lockdown but is working in partnership with Public Health England to offer free videos and 600 online fitness classes instead.

Read the full story here.